High (A Harry Potter Fanfiction--Dramione)

The Slytherin Mask

He fucking did it, that little shit.

Not to beat a dead horse, but Hermione was a smart witch. She knew Seamus's head didn't grow five times its normal size of its own volition. She had seen Draco's face during Charms class, casting dark glares at the Irish wizard. She wasn't totally sure why, but she knew he was behind it.

Over the past few weeks, she had observed the cracks in the seemingly flawless Slytherin façade that was Draco Malfoy's visage. Once she cracked the code, she found him to be quite expressive.

He did this thing with his top lip where he'd raise it slightly to the left whenever he found something funny, but it was "beneath him" to laugh.

He blushed at the top of his ears when he was...um...let's say excited. Needless to say, she had seen that pale pink flush on his ears many times.

When he was angry he didn't blink. It was creepy and Slytherin-as-fuck, and she had seen that same expression in his eyes the other day in Charms, just as she had seen it that day in the broom closet when he called her a Mudblood.

She knew his little expressions that revealed the covertly emotional boy he was underneath his Slytherin mask. He could probably hide from his fellow snakes, but he couldn't hide from her.

And she could never hide from him.

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Draco walked along the seventh floor corridor, looking forward to another just lovely afternoon of practical Arithmancy and self-loathing, when a strange force pulled him into the nearest broom closet. A silent Lumos was cast which revealed the identity of the perpetrator.

"Hermione?" Draco nearly choked with relief. And also a little awe. Damn. For such a little thing, she's fucking strong.

She looked at him with her stubborn whiskey eyes and said, "Only way to get you alone."

A faint smile painted his face. He could only project that him being here was a good thing. "You can have me alone any time you want."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Are you seriously flirting with me right now?"

"...Maybe."

She scoffed. "You seem rather proud of yourself."

"You've met me, yes?"

Cute. "Why did you inflate Seamus's head in Charms the other day?"

He shrugged. "Because I hate him."

"You hate everybody."

"No, I only hate most everybody. And all Gryffindors, present company excluded."

"Were you trying to get my attention or something? Is that what this was?"

He sighed. "No, I wouldn't do that. I've been trying to give you your space because that's what you asked for."

Hermione's eyes softened. "Why, then?"

He shook his head. "I didn't mean to. I just...I lost control."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "You lost control? That doesn't sound like you."

"Neither does pining after Hermione Granger, but here we are."

Hermione blushed. Pining? "...Really?"

He smiled, and unable to stand not touching her for another second, reached out to tug gently on a curly lock, loving the way it bounced at his attention. "Yes. Is that not obvious?" She smiled shyly up at him, not quite meeting his adoring gaze. "Hermione, I lost control the other day because Finnegan is a fucking creep. The way he talked to you and looked at you...I didn't like it. And I realize I don't exactly have a pristine record in that department, but I want to be better. And when I saw him flirting with you...I just..."